> I have found aerial maps that show no trees where there is now a thick belt of woods
Quite true, sir. I have heard the same thing from none other than Rush himself and I have seen the maps that verify the matter. In fact, if my memory serves, the number was quite remarkable, encompassing something like there are now something like 50% or so more trees than were to be found in the 1930’s or 40’s.
There are two maps that I just found that may provide some insight into the matter, the first being a comparative map of U.S virgin forests from 1620 to 1990. Needless to say, the 1620 North America was almost solid forest east of the Mississippi and quite densely populated in the north western part of the continent. By 1920 most of the forests are gone and by 1990 virtually all (I would estimate 97% or so are gone).
There’s only one problem with this view of what appears to be a great ecological disaster that has befallen the North American continent... It NEVER happened ! The initial premise behind the very real facts IGNORED the fact that NEW trees were planted and NEW forests sprang up so that today there is, in fact much more forested land than 100 or so years ago.
https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151214_agu5.png
I live in New England, and I was always puzzled by colonial paintings done during that time that showed no trees anywhere. A good example are paintings of the encounter in April 1775 at the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA.
They show the entire landscape completely devoid of trees, which always puzzled me (and made me think there was something wrong with those colonial painters!) until I asked about it, and a ranger told me that it accurately reflected that area as it was then...there had been so much land clearing for lumber and farming that there were miles of land that had very few trees.
Of course, that area where the bridge is now is completely forested, so it certainly doesn’t look like it did then!
So much interesting stuff in this respect. They have old colonial houses here that have flooring of extremely wide planks of wood, two feet wide or wider, which are kind of interesting to see, and we were told that these wide planks were a form of rebellion, in that the planks that wide were supposed to be reserved for The Crown, but trees would get felled and sawed without the knowledge or consent of the local authorities, and having those planks make up your floor was a statement...:)
WONDERFUL RESEARCH!
THANK YOU!!
